BEEF TO BEEF
Do you love beef? Do you love dairy? Well, if you aren't already listening to it, I highly recommend subscribing to the monthly Beef and Dairy Network podcast ASAP. I recently stumbled on the podcast not knowing what to expect, but five minutes into the "Ken Bicton memorial pig run" scandal and I was hooked. Each episode plays like a newscast set in a surrealist bovine-centric world, but the spoof commercials are the icing on the beef. My favorite, however, is a very real advertisement for job seekers at ziprecruiter.com/beef. That's Zip Recruiter dot com... slash beef. Slash beef... S L A S H B E E F... (QUINN WELSCH)
F(IGHTING) CANCER
When a touring punk band featuring a member credibly accused of sexual assault scheduled a Spokane show, Kelly Fay Vaughn didn't simply post something on Facebook and move on — she organized a show just a few doors down featuring a bunch of Spokane's best female-fronted bands, donating the proceeds to the YWCA and the local chapter of the National Organization for Women. Shorter version: Vaughn was a total badass and inspiration for the community. She lost a lengthy battle with cancer over the weekend, and some friends are hosting "F Cancer: A Benefit for Kelly Fay Vaughn," Sunday 6-10 pm at Jedi Alliance, 2024 E. Boone Ave. $12 bucks gets you unlimited pinball and arcade games, and proceeds will help with Vaughn's family's costs. (DAN NAILEN)
DRUG WAR PORN
In the second season of Narcos: Mexico — the reboot of Netflix's gritty crime drama series that originally focused on Colombian cocaine traffickers — viewers eager for more of the same won't be disappointed. The show tracks the rise and fall of Mexican drug trafficker Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and how his cartel established Mexico as a coveted smuggling route for American-bound narcotics. It's a familiar story arc that is still more concerned with the drugs and the violence than anything else. But with nods towards future seasons depicting the reign of a more contemporary and well-known Mexican drug kingpin, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, we're all bound to keep watching. (JOSH KELETY)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Some noteworthy new music hits online and in stores Feb. 28. To wit:
Soccer Mommy, Color Theory. Sophie Allison's new one sounds like a winning follow-up to her breakthrough Clean.
The Secret Sisters, Saturn Return. Brandi Carlile produced these Americana aces, right in Carlile's own WA home studio.
Robert Cray Band, That's What I Heard. The Washington blues dude's new one features a guest spot by Ray "Ghostbusters!" Parker Jr. Weird. (DAN NAILEN)
THE END IS NEAR: A KOONTZSPIRACY
Add this one to your list of super-duper-ultra-probable-could-be-maybe-but-likely-not conspiracy theories: The coronavirus was predicted 40 years ago by none other than American suspense author Dean Koontz. In his book The Eyes of Darkness (1981) a similar disease dubbed "Wuhan-400" also strikes in 2020. Coincidence?!?! Probably. The big difference between Koontz's fictional virus and the coronavirus is that his was 100 percent fatal, according to fact checker Snopes, while the coronavirus is only about 2 percent fatal. But that won't keep me and other tin-foil wearing truth seekers from digging deeper... Just who are you, really, Mr. Koontz? (QUINN WELSCH)
